Now anyone who understands the history of the battle between these two companies understands that the core of the fight has ALWAYS been animations.

On last gen systems NBA live held the same position as NBA 2K does currently. It was the sales, and in many eyes, the gameplay leader by a wide margin. ( There were a select few who believe things changed with the release of NBA 2K5) The advantage that the live 2002-2007 had over the 2K series was the smoothness of their animations. (Some thought too smooth... sliding)

I can recall comment after comment on how wonky and robotic 2k's animations were and how buttery smooth NBA Live's animations appeared. The majority of gamers could not get over the robotic nature of the game to see the good fundamental basketball advantages that 2K's product had over Live.

Fast forwared to This generation of PS3 and XBOX 360 and you will find the polar opposite. 2K learned a valuable lesson. In the game of basketball more than any other, how the players look and move, are a key component to the immersion of the gamer.

Some might say 2K over-learned their lesson by making short movie sequences that looked more like basketball but left the gamer with less control. Regardless of how you feel about their control or lack thereof. You can not deny that is looks like basketball moreso than any other game released.

The battle now clearly who can make it too the middle first... Can EA solve their animation issues and add to Elite's mantra of control; Before 2k can provide the freedom from 2player animations while still keeping the users immersed in animation goodness.

Understanding the history of these two franchises makes Steve's report above makes for even more interesting fodder.

Is it possible that even after a 2 year hiatus from the sport that Live will return still suffering from the unlearned lessons of the past ? Reading through the forums it is clear that a majority of Live's most faithful gamers are hoping they can.

While the rest of the seasoned gamer have another hope... That live brass understands clearly this truth.

If you can't move with the fluency found in real basketball, it might not matter if that movement has purpose.

They said that it is only 60% of the game finished.It was in pre-alpha stage.They had to start from scratch,while other games are just building from last years game,so this is no surprising that they have problem with animations.If they are using other EA Sports tehnology like there main dev said I don't think animations would be a problem.I believe the last year's E3 was in July and this one is in June,so every sports developer except Madden(releases on 28th October) didn't know what to show.And one last thing if we look at this article http://kotaku.com/5915198/first-look-at-nba-live-13-shows-a-game-making-great-passeseven-the-bad-ones it shows promising stuff,but not a word on animations,so if they can get polished animations and good controls I think that we can get a solid game.

I used to be a total live fan back in the PS1 days, and I've only recently discovered the amazing depth and challenge that the 2k series offers this generation. What an amazing series they've got here! The video tutorials you've got online are much much appreciated because the 2k series can be overwhelming for newcomers.